Communal clashes shatter peace in Indian Hyderabad

HYDERABAD – Prohibitory orders were clamped in parts of Indian Hyderabad on Thursday after a number of people were injured in communal clashes on Wednesday night, reported Indian media. Incidents of stone hurling and attacks on different communities were reported around 1 am after a person herding an ox was stabbed. The assailants suspected that he was taking the animal to a slaughterhouse while the injured man claimed it was his animal and he was taking it home.Soon a group protested in front of Mushirabad police station demanding action against the assailants. Even as police assured to take action, the group damaged a pandal in front of a religious place. Wednesday saw minor incidents of violence in different parts of Hyderabad, but as the sun sets down clashes took an ugly turn in which nearly 15 people were injured and properties were damaged by the rioters.Two different incidents of minor communal clashes reported in the day, when at Shad Nagar area in the suburb of the city, four Muslim youths engaged in the trade of cattle for Bakreid were attacked by an alleged mob of right-wing Hindu activists.Bull, ox, and other cattle, carried in a lorry were stopped and animals were snatched away. Four youths were reportedly tied up to a tree and beaten heatedly, till local police came to their rescue.In another incident, Durga puja rally went awry when drunken miscreants in the rally attacked two Muslim youths driving a bike, and damaged some business stores of minority community. But it was the dead hours of the night when events turned ugly in the heart of the city; violent clashes broke out between Hindus and Muslims in what began as a minor argument over the ownership of a bull. Two cattle traders from Musheerabad area went on for searching their lost bull brought in for sale. The bull went into Kavadiguda area, a pre-dominant Hindu locality, when cattle traders tried to take back the bull they were resisted by local Hindus, which turned into a heated argument and then into a clash between both the groups. Within minutes, clashes spread in whole Musheerabad locality, and Hindu Vahini (RSS front organisation for Dalits) activists attacked Muslim passersby on the main roads with deadly arms.In lethal clashes, 15 people were seriously injured, majority of them are from minority community. Vehicles of Muslims in ‘Bangladesh’ Market were torched, and even a government bus was damaged.